Improved hat-tedder



I l .www L3h/tire i l M. D. MYERS, or EEANKEOET NEw YORK, AssIeNoR or oNE-EouETE N To GEORGE `w. eATEsoE SAME PLACE;

Lcttcrs .Patent No. 97,67'7, (lated December 7, 1869.

IMPROYVED HAY-TEDDER.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and. makingfpart of the same. y

To all whom tt mwy concern Be it known 'that I, M. D. MYERS, of Frankfort, in the county of Herkimer, and State of New Yo'rkf lhave inventedainew and improved Hay-Tedder; and

. I do hereby declare that the following Iis afull, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this speciiicat-ion, in which- Figure 1 is a top View of the machine complete.-

Figure 2 is a sectional elevation of the machine, as seen bymaking a 'section through it in 'the vertical plane indicated by dotted line :ein fig. 1.

Figures 3 and 4 how .the manner of securing the forks to their heads.

Similar letters of `reference indicate Ycorresponding parts'in the -several'igures- This invention relates to 'certainnovel improvements on that class of -hay-tedders which revolyes areund a common centre, Tand which is also caused to oscillate independently, so that the forks assume such positions, after the` act of throwing the'grass, as `will not allow the grass to collect `upon or be carried I aroundlwith them.

The nature of my invention consists- First in applying fast upon one4 end of eachfork-carrying rod a crank-arm, 'and in connecting `this arm i to a wrist-pin which is applied eccentrically,toftheface 'of a spur-wheel, which wheel has its'bearing upon one side of a reel-disk, and is caused to rotate, when the reel is revolved, by engaging with the teeth of a stationary pinion, throughwhich the reel-shaft passes, as will be hereinafter explained.

secondly, in an eye-bearing for holding the forkteeth, which is so constructed that'the teeth can be separately" removed from or applied to this bearing', without removing it from its rod, as will be hereinafter explained. M Y

Thirdly, ingsocoustructing an eye-bearing for hpld ing the fork-teeth, that thesame screw which rigidly secures the bearing in place upon. its rod, will alsoY rigidly confine the teeth inplace, as will be hereinafter explained. i

To enable othersgskilledfin .the art to understand my'inveution, I will describe its construction and operation. 4

In the accompanying drawings- A represents the frame bf. the machine, upon which the driver rides, and

B B represent' two wheels, which serve both as transporting-wheels 'and as driving-wheels, andwhich are applied to short axles that do not extend 'across the frame. f

y In rear of the -axle,and supported by journal-boxes vl) b, upon the side beamsof frame A, is the reel-shaft B. carrying, on both, ends, pinion spur-wheels p,.one

of which is shown in'fig. 1; Each wheel, p, is applied loosely on the: shaft B', and caused to engage with it, when the in achineis moved forward, by means of a sp'ring-pawl,` or clutch,- applied in the box a, and each wheel, p, engages with the inside gear .G on the drivingwheelinearest to-it. By this arrangement it-will Vbe seen that the reel-shaftB will not rotate when the head D with one fork applied to it; but, in practice,

more than one fork may be applied to each rod.

On .one end of each rod, a short-crank-arm, f, is keyed, which is connectedto a Wrist-pin xed eccentricallytothe face of a spur-wheel, d, hy means of a rod, c, as clearly shown in iig. 2. The spur-wheel d is applied to a stud on the outer'side of one ofthe plates O, so as to revolve freely about its own axis, and also about the axis of the reel-shaft B. This spur-wheel d engages with the teeth of aspnr-wheel, c, which is secired fast tothe inner end ofthe bearing b, and through the centre of which the reel-shaft B passes.

It will bev seen, from the above description, that each rakebar D will receive` an oscillatory motion about its own axis during'its revolution about the axis of the reel, the extent of which oscillation will depend on the amount of throw given to the crankarm f of such bar.` v

' If desirable, the wrist-piu of each spur-wheel may be made adjustable, forgiving a greater or less amount of throw to said fork-rod, or the same resultmightbe Y effected by having-the-pin on each one of the crank' arms f adjustable.

In the drawings'I have' represented .two of the fork-` rods arranged to receive oscillation from wheels d d, on one plate O, and the other two rods arranged to receive motionfrom similar wheels, d d, on the opposite plate G. This arrangement will equalize the strain upon the reel.

.Having provided for giving oscllatingmotion to the fork-barsyD,'it is only necessary to adjust the forks upon these rods, so that, as ythe forks are successively brought into position for picking up the grass, they will assume the proper angle of inclination tothe the forks rise to the highest points in their revolution,

they will free themselves of the grass.

I am aware that machines of' this class, having forks which received oscillating motion while bein g revolved around a common centre, have been used prior to my invention, and I do not claim this broad idea; but I -am not aware that such movements of forks have ever through and secured in one eye of a bearing, E, as p shown in fig. 3.

The short arms g' g', of the teeth g, are introduced beneath oisets, i i, of the eye-bearing E, and between these offsets and the fork-rod D, which passes through the bearing, as shown in figs. 3 and 4.

By means of a set-screw, j, the bearing Eis clamped rigidly to the rod D, land the short arms or ends g g', of the teeth g, are rigidly confined in their places.

lo remove a tooth, g, it is only necessary to loosen the screw j', and slip the coil of the tooth od'its bar, h.

I am aware that hay-tedders have hitherto been constructed with revolving tines, so arranged that during their revolution they were caused to present different angles, and that eceentrics were employed for this purpose 5 but owing to the great amount of friction thus caused, this plan is objectionable, and not claimed by me.

I am also aware that it is not new to employ, on a rake-bar, a device for receiving and holding the short ends of spring-coil rake-teeth, and enclosing such ends, and I do not claim such a; device broadly as my invention.

Having described my invention,

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is l 1. The oscillating` fork-heads applied to revolving rcel-disks when operated by means of crank-arms f, connecting-rods c, and spur-wheels (l and c, substantially as described.

2. The construction of an eye-bearing, E, with two eyes, one to receive a bar, 7i, andthe other to receive the fork-bar D, in combination with the lateral hooked oiisets t t, to 4receive and gripe the ends g of the teeth, and allow the removal ot' the teeth by lateral movement, when screw j is loosened, substantially as described.

M. D. MYERS. Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS H. WALSH, Geo.l C. LEE. 

